I took the plunge today based on what Cindy S (one of our pollsters) had to say about it, and joined Twitter. Basically it boils down to this: I'm nosy and didn't want to "miss" anything. Right now I do these forums, my blog, AAR After Hours, Shelfari, and Facebook, primarily, although I check in on MySpace every few days (both for my own page and for AAR's page, which I now moderate), and Books iRead and Visual Bookshelf - through Facebook - every week. I gave up on GoodReads right after joining it.

Because postings are limited to about a sentence, I don't know that this will work at all for me, but after seeing how many people I know are Twittering, I thought I'd give it a try. I was surprised, but I just got off the phone w/one of my nieces, who's in college, today, and neither she nor her older brother, also at that same college, knew what Twitter was. My response? "Oh, please! You're like, so, 2005!"

Who among you Twitters? Have any of you tried it, and then abandoned it? Right now it's about 50/50 that I will._________________Laurie Gold
http://laurie-gold.blogspot.com

I love Twitter, although I was skeptical at first. It's kind of like an ongoing watercooler conversation, but without the commitment of blogging (I've pretty much given that good fight up for good). I can take a five min break from the writing and check out what's going on with the peeps I'm following; I can follow the links embedded in their messages or not, if I'm so inclined, or not.

But the limited message framework keeps me sharp and focused and from being long-winded (not that I have a problem with that, oh no ).

I do NOT use it as a promotion tool, BTW. Not that I don't mention when I've put an excerpt up or whatever, but this is far more social -- for me -- than business. It's just fun. And sometimes I don't think we have enough just plain fun in our lives.

I just don't understand the appeal of Twitter. I would be po'd with people, even friends, interrupting my workday all the time. This is why I never got into IM or text-messaging. I prefer email, voicemail, and discussion forums, like this, when I can come in and out at my convenience. And I've expresed previously my feelings about blogs There is nothing that urgent that cannot wait and I do not need to talk constantly with other people. Guess I'm sooo year 2000!

I work with young people a lot and sometimes I feel they should just go ahead and get an implant in their brains so they can be in constant communication with their friends and the outside world. They have BIG problems being alone and silent.

Oh, I'd never use Twitter with a phone or somesuch that would allow the interruptions. That would drive me bonkers, too. (Not that I have far to go. ) I just use it on my computer, checking whenever I feel like it.